Shellshocked
by Purple Mongoose
Summary: Third in the 'Ai no Yume' series. Returning to the split future, Ami and Mirai Trunks are embroiled in a deadly trap. [Rewriting]
1. Prelude

Shellshocked  
  
*****  
  
Prelude  
  
  
They reformed outside the Capsule Corp. building, hands clasped together.  
  
Trunks opened his eyes and smiled. "I'm home," he breathed and Ami laughed, twirling in a circle, feeling the warmth of the sun brushing her skin.  
  
"I never thought I'd miss the heat of the place," she sighed, a subtle breeze whispering through her hair.  
  
"Well, we're here on a mission," he reminded her grudgingly and he felt ashamed of himself when her small smile shrunk, dwindling into nothing. Idiot, he reprimanded mentally.   
  
"Hai, Mirai-kun," she said quietly, using a new nickname for him.  
  
"OH MY GOD! YOU'RE BACK!!"  
  
Their heads jerked around and Trunks and Ami found themselves being hugged by a crying Buruma, her long blue hair in disarray.   
  
After a moment, she pulled away, smiling at them.  
  
"You two are coming inside with me right now!" she ordered, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her hand.  
  
Trunks and Ami looked at each other, then back at his mother and they burst into peals of laughter.  
  
(*)  
  
She opened her eyes and she knew what she was to do.  
  
Find and kill the woman before the threat could be born, then destroy the child.  
  
She didn't question her identity, or how she knew what she was to do.   
  
That wasn't her purpose.  
  
Aimee detached the wires connecting to her naked flesh, to her breasts and thighs.  
  
A change of clothing rested on the table before her: a midriff shirt with a hole in it, above the breasts, with the insignia of Mercury on it, but with an 'x' cutting through the circle; a pair of black leggings and two ivory white boots with black tips; and black gloves. No dramatic transformation was necessary; she simply thought it and, though her slitted blue eyes and thick blue-black hair remained the same, she was Dark Sailor Mercurius.  
  
Her sisters slept in their hibernation tanks, their wrinkled father typing furiously away at a computer console.  
  
She didn't look back.  
  
  
  
  
Dat's the prelude! Whaddaya think? No, I didn't steal the 'evil Senshi' idea from Morgan Hudson of RONIN SUMMER fame. They're not comic relief; they're pure evil.   
  
Next chapter:  
  
Mirai no Buruma is killed when Trunks and Ami are out talking. When they return, they find her bloody, beheaded corpse…and an Ami look-a-like holding the missing head. With a "Is this hers?" and a casual toss, the dark clone reveals herself to be Dark Sailor Mercurius, formed of the evil half of Ami's soul. She leaves the two to mourn, and reappears at night in the other timeline, by the crib of a sleeping infant Trunks…  
  
Ooooo. Suspense-y. You ready to club me, yet?   
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Shellshocked" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	2. And They All Come Tumbling Down...

Shellshocked  
  
*****  
  
And They All Come Tumbling Down…  
  
  
Buruma hummed to herself, checking the teakettle absently.  
  
Her son and Ami had left an hour before, declaring their intentions to spend some quality time together talking.  
  
The woman wasn't in her fifties for nothing - she knew attraction when she saw it, and she saw it.   
  
Giggling like a schoolgirl, she heard a knock at the door leading to the kitchen and she called out, "Come in!"  
  
The door swung open and Ami walked in.  
  
Buruma stared, mouth ajar. "Good Lord, Ami, what the hell are you wearing?" she finally cried.   
  
Ami ignored her words, walking closer and closer, a steady confidence in her step.  
  
"Ami…"  
  
"I'm not Ami," the woman said calmly, and then she swept her arm through Buruma's neck.   
  
(*)  
  
"Oh, look, it's frog!"  
  
Ami squinted and shook her head. "No," she objected, "it's a dog."  
  
"Frog."  
  
"Dog."  
  
"Frog."  
  
"Dog."  
  
They looked at each other and simultaneously broke into giggles.  
  
Lavender hair fanning around his tanned face, Trunks folded his arms behind his head, hands against his neck, elbows in the air.   
  
"Mirai-kun," Ami whispered softly, "do you mind if I call you that?"  
  
He rolled over onto his stomach, the cool green grass swaying along the hilltop. Blue eyes staring at her intensely, he asked, "Why?"  
  
She shrugged, averting her gaze, cheeks slightly pink. "I was thinking that, with two Trunks', we'd have to call you Mirai so as to not confuse you."  
  
"Ami-chan," he said, delicately, "are you saying you'll be leaving? I can't leave…this is my home."  
  
Ami was blushing strongly, now. "I shan't leave," she finally replied slowly, "if you don't want me to."  
  
"I don't," he affirmed, flipping onto his feet. "Let's get home before okaasan flips, okay?" Trunks offered her his leathered hand and she smiled softly, taking it with her softer one. In an instant, he twisted her up into his arms, her face close to his, her blue eyes large and surprised. "I thought we'd fly first-class," he grinned and he streaked into the sky, her delighted squeals echoing joyfully in his sensitive ears.  
  
The ride ended too soon, however, and they landed gently on the ground before the Capsule Corp. building's front door, hair messy from the wind currents higher up.  
  
"Okaasan?" Trunks called, stepping into the dome shaped building. Almost immediately, he smelled the scent of burnt cooking and blood. It was if he'd been punched in the gut, and hard.  
  
"Is something the matter?" Ami asked, and then she flinched visibly, hands flying up to her head. "There's a magic pattern," she gasped, "exactly like mine in the kitchen."  
  
They glanced at each other and shot to the open kitchen door.  
  
On the floor lay Buruma's body, head torn off and blood pooling over the length and width of the tile floor.  
  
Sitting on the edge of the counter, one leg crossed up over the other's thigh, one arm wrapped around her waist, a duplicate of Ami casually tossed Buruma's unseeing head up and down, up and down, up and down.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" Trunks snarled, and he exploded into Super Saiya-jin, limbs quivering helplessly at the sight of his dead mother.  
  
The woman cast an unfeeling glance at the dead body and glanced back at the fleshy head she had caught with one gloved hand. "Oh, is this hers?" she asked flippantly before squeezing it with her hand, crushing the skull effortlessly. "So very sorry."  
  
"Why do you look like me?" Ami asked warily, feeling for her henshin stick.  
  
The woman scowled. "Because I am Dark Sailor Mercurius," she mock-curtsied, "formed of the evil in your soul and born to destroy the bloodline of Trunks. I'd really love to stay and kill you two, but I've got a pressing engagement in another time. Ta-ta for now!" She winked out of sight.  
  
"DAMN!" A ki blow erupted from Trunks and the entire south side of the Capsule Corp. building was leveled into the ground. He ground his teeth and powered down from Super Saiya-jin, kneeling beside his dead mother. "Okaasan…"  
  
Ami knit her eyebrows together. With their luck, this Dark Sailor Mercurius was guarding the three souls.  
  
But nothing could keep her mind off the late Buruma and she joined Trunks in weeping prayer.  
  
(*)  
  
"Ugly little brat," Mercurius muttered to herself, staring into the crib the infant was sleeping in, the thick moonlight filling the nursery room. "Hard to imagine you're that Super Saiya-jin bastard. Oh, wait…you _are_ a bastard."  
  
Frowning, she reached her blood-streaked black gloves down, lifting the warm infant up into her arms.  
  
He yawned and stirred, crystal blue eyes opening slowly to stare into her face with great curiosity.  
  
Suddenly, it didn't seem so important that she kill him.   
  
It bewildered her and her mind quickly came up with an excuse.  
  
"Hell Gero will want to study you," she told the infant, who smiled up at her and nuzzled his face into her shoulder, her hand tucked under his bottom. She hesitated for a moment, torn between her programming and herself. "Come."  
  
Five minutes alter, Buruma opened the nursery door, yawning. It was time for Trunks' late-night feeding and-  
  
Alarmed, she rushed to the crib, finding the blankets moved and her baby gone.  
  
  
  
  
  
Well, I'm ending it there because I'm still in a stupor from writing so much last night and today. I feel so burned out…  
  
I need a rest. Very badly. PLEASE understand!   
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ I'm not ashamed to grovel for reviews. See? I'M GROVELING!]  
  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Shellshocked" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	3. The Situation's Growing Dim

Shellshocked  
  
*****  
  
The Situation's Awfully Dim  
  
  
"Die, damn you!" Lamour snarled cruelly, trying her hardest to snap the annoying man's neck in half. A sickening creaking sound screeched through the malignant air before, sharply, the spine cracked neatly into two pieces, and the man went limp, eyes rolling back in his head, eyelids peeled back, the front half of his tongue falling out of his bloodied mouth. Apparently, he had snapped his jaw shut from the pain, slicing through his tongue, rather like a seizure victim. With an impersonal shrug, the blonde woman tossed the ragdoll-like body over her shoulder effortlessly, listening for the wet thump to echo behind her.   
  
"Lamour," Lytae drawled, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned carelessly against the wall, "do you have to kill all the slaves whenever you get pissed?"  
  
Lamour shrugged informally, kicking another sprawled carcass out of her way, uninterested as she sloshed through pools of crimson blood and unraveled intestines spilling forth from the sliced open gut. Sheathing the Mace Sword in the holster tied to her waist, she stretched her arms, smirking as Rune glanced up from her meal of still bloody raw meat; Sirenu was skinning a rat in her boredom, curious as to how long she could peel layers of skin off the mammal before it died.   
  
"Where the goddamn hell is Aimee?" Sirenu asked irritatedly.  
  
"Other timeline," Rune mumbled, slurping a piece of stringy, bloody meat into her mouth, using one long blood red fingernail to pick out what appeared to be a tendon from between her molars. "Gero-sama sent her to kill Trunks' mother in this timeline, then go and kill Trunks in that timeline." She paused, biting and savoring the meat that oddly resembled human muscle. "Dunno what's taking so long."  
  
"You gonna share that with anyone else, bitch?" questioned Lytae, grasping the nape of a rat's neck, absently crushing the spinal cord and zapping the creature with enough voltage to char it beyond recognition, dropping the dead body to the floor. "I'm hungry as hell."  
  
"This is mine, whore," snarled Rune protectively, shielding the mound of blood and meat from Lytae's hungry gaze. "I had to find the right blood type and all before I could kill the stupid mortal woman. If you want some, then go bloody well kill your own prey!"  
  
Lamour yawned lazily, shuffling past a lung decorating the floor, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder to point toward the slave carcasses. "There's two dead bodies if you all wanna eat anytime soon," she grinned evilly.  
  
With a whoop, Sirenu tossed the almost completely skinned rat into a grisly wall, its body splattering hither and thither. "Food!" she crowed and Rune leaned over to the dead rat, dipping her finger in into its heart, pulling out her bare fingers, covered in blood, and placing them in her mouth, licking off the crimson fluid. "Not bad," she admitted, returning to her human meal.  
  
Sirenu was too busy carving up one of the bodies to notice, using her dirk to shovel pieces of flesh and muscle into her waiting, gaping mouth, sharp teeth glittering and blood-stained. "This is good," she giggled around her mouthful.  
  
Lytae licked her lips eagerly, joining her pigtailed sister. "Leave some for me!"  
  
Sirenu mumbled an obscenity aimed at everyone in general and Lamour flipped her middle finger up at her affectionately.  
  
It was into this melee that Aimee appeared.  
  
Cradled clumsily in her arms was a slumbering bundle, her face forcibly cold. "My, my, my," she droned sarcastically, "what a lovely spread we have here."  
  
"Whatever," Lytae grunted, and Sirenu nodded in fervent agreement.  
  
"What've you got?" Rune asked, curious, finishing her gruesome meal reflectively.  
  
"Nothing," Aimee defended reflexively. "Nothing important."  
  
"I smell human blood," Lamour narrowed her blue eyes dangerously. "Why do you have a," she broke off momentarily, sniffing the bundle, "baby human?"  
  
"No reason," lied the bluenette.  
  
In reply, Lamour hooked her long orange fingernails under a lapel of the cloth, ripping it aside to reveal a small lavender-haired boy. "You bitch!" she cried. "You didn't kill the infant! You kept him!"  
  
"Oooo," squealed Rune, eyes lighting up in a predatorial manner, "can we eat him?" Sirenu and Lytae stopped their eating of the fresh corpse, chewing slowly as they stared threateningly at Aimee.  
  
"No," snapped she, "you can't!"  
  
"And," Sirenu glared daggers.  
  
"Why not?" finished Lytae dangerously.  
  
"Because I'm going to try and-"  
  
"And what?" Lamour circled her, almost amused.   
  
"Screw off, you bitches!" Aimee burst, shoving past them into her chambers, slamming the door shut behind her and hexing it shut with a curse.  
  
Flopping down on her spacious waterbed, the now-awake Trunks gurgled happily, stretching his tiny, chubby arms up to pat her cheeks. She rested on her stomach, content to watch her newly adopted charge roll along the bubbling waterbed on his back, laughing. "In this place," she whispered softly, "you will remain an infant for merely a day or two. By the draw of this week's end, you will be five years in body and mind. That is your curse…a mortal dwelling in this castle will perish in a year."  
  
Trunks only giggled and reached for her hair.  
  
"But why," Aimee asked him gently, "do I not just kill you now?"  
  
*  
  
"Youma!" Super Sailor Mercury cried and Trunks, in his Super Saiya-jin form, took off, slicing the demon-like creature in half with his glistening blade. Another one popped up in front of her and, startled, she slammed her gloved hand into its face, crying, "Aqua Rhapsody!" It screamed and was blown away in a cloud of ice particles. "They must be getting weak," she mused, turning to Trunks, who was busy finishing off a trio of canine demons. "Any sign of that Dark Sailor Mercurius character?" she asked.  
  
"No," he grunted, face and eyes devoid of emotion; his mother had been dead for three days now. Her own face softened sympathetically. How long, Mercury wondered; how long had it been since her own mother had died at the age of ninety-three, when Ami still looked like she was only twenty-two? At least she had all those years with her mother to remember…he only had precious few compared to the ones she had.  
  
"Looking for me?" called the husky voice of the dark Mercury. She was perched on top of a half-decimated church steeple, a small lavender-haired toddler watching them curiously.   
  
"Oh, my God," Mercury breathed. That was the other Trunks, only…older.  
  
As if reading her thoughts, Dark Sailor Mercurius bent her neck so her head was level with the younger Trunks'. She was whispering instructions and he nodded eagerly, climbing around onto her shoulders and standing on them, hands woven into her dark blue locks. "I am Trunks," he spoke clearly in a youthful voice, fixing his pretty blue eyes on the two blood-streaked, shocked figures. "Mirai and Mercury, you two are threats to Gero-sama's plan to control both worlds and as such you will be destroyed. Mercurius-chan has told me the truth - it is Gero-sama's destiny to rule all and I have been shown the…," his voice trailed off as he recalled the words. "I have been shown," he retried, "the true path and the Dark Sailor Senshi will annihilate the defenders of both timelines." Proudly, he smiled cherubically down at a softly smiling Mercurius.  
  
A brilliant flash of ocean blue light streamed through the sky and the two vanished from the church steeple. From over a large hill, tenfold youma and assorted soldiers poured into the open, weapons and claws brandished.  
  
Mirai roared, enraged beyond comprehensible thought.  
  
"No!" Mercury screamed.  
  
She followed him into battle.  
  
  
  
  
Eheheheh! That's where it ends! ;}  
  
Okay, you know the previous chapter when they were arguing about a frog and a dog? They were watching clouds - just to clear that up. Also, I am going to refer to Mirai no Trunks as Mirai simply because it's going to be confusing with two Trunks.  
  
Did the Dark Sailor Senshi freak you out as much as the Cell -x- Metallia stuff did in "Ares Denetsu?" *shrugs* I wouldn't know unless you told me!  
  
Next chapter is coming out VERY soon!  
  
And if you're wondering about what's happening in the other timeline, wait until "Shellshocked" is over and I can write "A Thousand Leaves" - my Yamucha -x- Jupiter/Makoto series. "ATL" will be set parallel to "SS," though in the other timeline, of course. You'll see soon enough…  
  
School got out on May 24 here in New Mexico, so expect me to finish "SS," "ATL," the Juunanagou -x- Venus/Minako series "Broken Hell," and the Goten -x- Moon/Neo-Queen Selenity/Usagi series "Only Wistful Thinking" by the end of summer! (Maybe by the end of July - who knows?)  
  
As always…  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ REVIEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! I want as many as "Ares Denetsu" - 67 - when I finish "SS!"]  
  
[PSS~ Expect Ami/Mirai-ness next chapter, as well as an update on Gokuu, Goten, and Usagi, okay? Okay!]  
  
[PSSS~ The title of this chapter comes from the song by a Christian band called DCTalk - the song is "My Friend (So Long)," in case you're wondering.]  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Shellshocked" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


	4. Crystal Bliss

Shellshocked  
  
*****  
  
Crystal Bliss  
  
  
Usagi stood on the edge of her - their, she reminded herself - world, staring out into the crystal walls of the Ginzishou. She wasn't sure when she had learned that they weren't really trapped in an alternate dimension, but the fact remained that they were truly captive inside the Ginzishou itself. Gokuu had become light-hearted after the horrible nightmare of Chichi's near assassination passed and Goten had been such a dear help to her in maintaining the fragile balance of their crystalline world. This world was perfect and sometimes she didn't want to be rescued. Endymion, Mamoru, Tuxedo Kamen…he had died and he would never return. Perhaps if she had the Ginzishou under her control she could, but it was too late now; she knew. Luna, Artemis - both dead and unable to be retrieved. Diana and Chibi-Usa, never to exist. If she stayed here, she'd never have to face the true pain.  
  
And, if she would admit it, she didn't want to leave Goten. He was like Naru had been - her closest friend.   
  
"Trying to find a way out?" Goten asked, rocking back on his heels, clasping one wrist behind his back with his other hand. His eyes were so full of trust as he watched the reed-slender beauty next to him.  
  
"Yes," she lied, turning to look into his endless black eyes with her own enigmatic blue ones. "I am…"  
  
*  
  
Cautiously, Ami picked her way across the paper-strewn rooms of the Capsule Corps. building. In a rage, Mirai had torn apart records and experiments, following the murder of his mother. Ami had walled off the kitchen with walls of eternal ice, not wanting him to be constantly reminded of the pain. She frowned to herself, now. If they could find a way to get into the dimension _they_ were using, then they might be able to stop them.  
  
But how?  
  
An idea struck Ami and, snatching up her mini-computer, she dashed out of the building, transporting herself to the church steeple they had been near earlier that day. Flipping out a tiny microphone device out from an obscure panel lining the bottom of her equally tiny laptop, she unfolded the thin, but sturdy, neck of it, holding it out and analyzing the data of the hopeful remnants of the transport Mercurius and Trunks had used.  
  
"Yes!" she cheered, thrusting a fist into the air. "Now, if I trace the transport's destination…"  
  
A moment went by and her face paled.  
  
"Oh," she gasped, "oh, God, no."  
  
Cell and Metallia had taken control over and corrupted Phobos Deimos Castle of Mars.  
  
The Dark Sailor Senshi and their 'Gero-sama' had invaded Marina Castle of Mercury.  
  
The computer suddenly screamed for attention and, snapping out of her horror, she stared blindly at the computer screen.  
  
The Ginzishou - her computer had found a signal identical to that of the Ginzishou, in Io Castle of Jupiter.  
  
"Shit," Ami swore and she leapt from the church's steeple, vanishing mid-way down, landing outside the CC building, where Mirai was waiting for her, face worried and infinitely sad.  
  
She took a deep breath.  
  
"You'll never guess what I found out…"  
  
*  
  
Sirenu bared her glistening sharp teeth at Rune, who simply smirked and bit deeply into the human leg, jagged teeth slicing quickly through the detached limb's flesh.   
  
"Aimee is becoming a danger to us," Lamour announced, eyes narrowed as they burned into Aimee's closed and locked door. "She might need to be exterminated."  
  
"I get her legs if we have to kill her," Rune butted in, licking her bloody fingertips and ripping flaps of muscle off the leg she was chewing.   
  
"I get her arms," Sirenu scowled.  
  
"Head, neck, and shoulders," Lytae added hastily.  
  
"Fine," Lamour snapped. "I'll get the rest, whatever. Gero-sama needs us to go attack the other timeline again. I personally want to kill that damn Venus slut." She traced a newly formed scar on her cheek. "And, just to piss her off, I think I'm going to disable her damned boytoy."  
  
Lytae grinned cruelly. "Off we go to kill!" she sang happily, dissipating in a flash of green light.  
  
Unhappily, Rune dropped her meal to the floor, leaving in a bright streak of red light.  
  
Sirenu knelt by the half-chewed leg, ripping off a chunk to eat along the way, vanishing in her cloud of pink light.  
  
Lamour cast one final, dark glare at Aimee's door before disappearing into a bolt of orange light.  
  
*  
  
Hell Gero watched in amusement as the tiny figures inside the Ginzishou went about their punt attempts to find a way out.  
  
He had agreed to watch the crystal when Metallia brought it to him, but only when he saw his previous self's creation _Cell_ smirking down at him.  
  
To know he had created such perfect evil was inspiring and he had set about creating the Dark Sailor Senshi, which he had succeeded at. A brief frown creased his wrinkled face. Aimee, Dark Sailor Mercurius, was becoming more of a recluse every minute and Hell Gero was aware that she had brought back the infant Trunks instead of killing him.  
  
"My dear daughter," he sighed disapprovingly, "you are worrying your father…"  
  
  
  
  
Eep. Short chapter. Oi! Writer's block! Noooooooooooooo!!! *falls to knees, sobbing* Somebody shoot my writer's block! Pleeeeeeeease!!!  
  
Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease.  
  
[PS~ I know there wasn't enough plot development in this chapter…sorry! *weeps*]  
  
[PSS~ Review!]  
  
DISCLAIMER:  
The Sailor Senshi are © to Takeuchi Naoko-san, Kodansha, DiC, Cloverway, Toei Animation, Mixx Entertainment, etc.  
The Dragonball characters are © to Toriyama Akira-san, Shogakun (?), FUNimation, Toei Animation, Viz Entertainment, etc.  
"Shellshocked" in its entirety, all situations and plot devices thus far, is © to myself, referred to on-line as PallaPlease or Purple Mongoose/PallaPlease. 


End file.
